£15 High Street Challenge | June

It's that time of the month again, time for the June instalment of my £15 High Street Challenge! If you're not familiar with this blog series, you can read my other posts here to see what I've bought.

I started this series because when I looked back at my 2014 blog posts, nearly all of them were PR samples, and that made me uncomfortable.  My reviews are always 100% honest as I'm sure you know, but I didn't spend any money buying things I wanted to try, so I decided to spend £15 every month on 3 different things, and then review them for you :)

This month Boots.com had an offer on L'Oreal products, it was the traditional 3 for 2 (gotta love that!). I'd been eyeing up the True Match foundation (£9.99) for a while, I know that Em from My Pale Skin blog uses this a lot mixed with the Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation for good coverage, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  Despite picking the lightest yellow-toned shade, it's still too dark for me, so not exactly a 'true match'.  Hopefully as my skim warms up in colour slightly over the summer (I tend not to let my skin get much sun as I'm so pale I just burn) this will become a better match.

Also, in a recent Fleur de Force video I saw her talking about the new L'Oreal Infallible mega glosses (£6.99), so I thought this would be a great option too - I don't tend to wear much lipgloss anymore as it drives me nuts the way my hair is magnetised to it (same as everyone else!), and to be honest, I don't wear much lipstick either, but I still wanted to give it a try.

Lastly, I needed and wanted a new kohl eyeliner, so I picked the black Infallible one (£5.19) to give it a go - I love that it has a little sharpener in the lid, a smudge stick (not that I use these) and it's retractable.

All together my purchase came to £16.98 (excluding P&P), so £1.98 over budget, but that's not bad going considering what I've bought :)

I actually have a first impressions video of the True Match foundation coming very soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that (subscribe here so you don't miss it!).

What do you think of this month's picks?

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Benefit lip gloss giveaway with Cosme-de

I have another exciting giveaway today for you, this time the prizes have been supplied by the lovely people over at Cosme-de.  If you haven't heard of Cosme-de before, they're an international shopping website (free worldwide delivery!), and on checking they are actually having a sale on some of their Benefit products at the moment, so if you're in the market for a Benefit splurge, you could save yourself a few ££s in the process.

The lip glosses included in the giveaway are beautifully designed in pure 1920's art deco style, both the outer design of the boxes, and the actual lip glosses inside, pure luxury.  The boxes are held closed with a little blue ribbon - so cute!

The prizes
I have 3 pairs of Benefit lip glosses to giveaway - each lip gloss worth £14 on Cosme-de at their current discounted rate - so each prize is worth over £28 :)  There will be 3 winners picked at the end of the giveaway, and each will receive one pair of Benefit lip glosses.

The rules
1.  This giveaway is open internationally
2.  The winners will be selected by the random.org picker on Rafflecopter
3.  The winners will have 48 hrs to get back to me with an address, if they don't, a new winner will be selected
4.  All entries will be moderated and anyone with false entries will have all their entries disqualified

5.  Good luck everyone :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Michael Kors lipstick and lipgloss

Just lipstick

Lipstick with lipgloss over the top

Just the lipgloss

Excuse all the lip pics!  I thought I'd review the Michael Kors lipstick and lipgloss together, as when layered up they're pretty spectacular!

The lipstick, by itself is surprisingly hydrating and buttery, as well as really well pigmented.  The buttery texture and hydration is thanks to the shea butter and vitamin E, that's what makes it feel so luxurious.  I have the shade 'Bombshell', an intense deep pink.

When you layer the lip gloss over the top, in shade Siren, it really comes to life and gives more depth as the gloss has very small shimmery particles in it - think of the glaze on a krispy kreme donut (the one with the pink glaze) :)  The lip gloss is pretty sticky, not to the extent of the MAC dazzle glass (the stickiest lip gloss I've ever seen) and it's easy to remove.

The lip gloss by itself has a lovely finish and pigmentation, it's not overly intense making it very wearable.

You can expect to get a good few hours of wear out of these before needing to reapply.  Both of these I applied directly from the applicator/bullet - I think I would have got better results with the lipstick if I'd applied with a lip brush, but that's just my personal preference.

Both are lovely products and feel very luxurious, and then there's the gorgeous packaging, how luxe are they!?

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*This post contains PR samples

theBalm cheeks, lips and eyes

Up until a month or so ago, I was a complete theBalm virgin.  Lots and lots of their products have I pined after, but never did I own any, until now.

** Excuse the hideous closeup of my large pores **

Cabanaboy | £13*

This has to be my favourite of the three products, especially as we move into Autumn, I find myself reaching for the deeper berry shades on the cheeks, but of course, still careful not to apply too much of it :)  It's really well pigmented and only requires about 3-4 dabs of my real techniques blusher brush to pick up enough to do a cheek.  It's not crazily soft either, which is something I don't like as it makes it way to easy to pick up too much product, with this it's nicely firm.  You get a good amount of product for your money too, 8.5g, which compared to Benefits' new Rockateur (5g) is really good.  You've got to love the quirky packaging too which seals shut with a magnet, and has a decent sized mirror inside :) As is typical with theBalm this product is talc and paraben free.

Shady Lady eye shadow | £10* in 'Caught in the act Courtney'

This single eyeshadow is a deep mocha brown with a brown/coppery shimmer.  In the photo I've used it on the outer half of my eyelid.  I really like the leopard print packaging, very cute!  And just like the blusher, it seals shut with a magnet and has a good sized mirror inside.  Pigmentation is great, it was really quick and easy for me to build up to the level of brown you can see in the picture.  It blended really well, although I would describe it as a dry formula as opposed to some shadows which can be quite creamy (like a lot of Urban Decay ones can be).  

The shadow stayed in place all day and all night without fading, looking pretty much just as lovely at the night end when I was taking my makeup off. This would be a beautiful colour by itself, or worked through the crease and outer V - or like I did, on the outer half of your eye to darken and smoke it. You get 3.4g of product which is a lot when you compare it to an Urban Decay single shadow (1.5g).

Plump your Pucker | £9.50* in 'Cherry Cola'

First off can I just say, this smells exactly like cherry cola, which is my favourite fizzy drink!  The colour is like a dusky pink with quite a lot of shimmer in it (goldy shimmer).  It's well pigmented but not over the top, I was actually wearing a very thin layer of it as I don't like wearing too much lipgloss, otherwise it can gather in the corners of your mouth, and that's not a good look for anyone!  Durability was really good, it would last me about 4-5 hours before I felt I needed to reapply.  Also, seeing as it's a 'plumping' lip gloss, there is the obligatory tingling sensation that accompanies wearing it just as you'd expect.  Plump your pucker was a pleasant surprise and one I'd like to try some other, lighter shades of.

All in all my first experience of theBalm did not disappoint, I loved the products I tried and the blusher really was the highlight of the three for me.  It's what I found myself reaching for again and again, and will still reach for.  Now what I have my beady eyes on is the Nude Tude palette and the BalmJovi palette, they both look awesome!

What's your favourite theBalm product?

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Karen from Liverpool Lashes

 

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Accessorize Lip Gloss

Hey guys, 

I have another Accessorize lip product for you today!  You know how lip products are my nemesis!  Pics below and my thoughts (as usual!)

From L-R The Accessorize lip gloss, the Accessorize lipstick and lipgloss, the Accessorize lipstick*

My Thoughts

I really like this lip gloss :)  Again, cute packaging as with all the Accessorize beauty products (I love a brand that does different things with packaging, like Paul & Joe).  The scent is amazing!  It smells like ice cream, NOM!  It really reminds me of the lip gloss with the MUA Lip BOOM's, I love them too :p But I do prefer a creme gloss as opposed to a glitter gloss (tell that to my crazy glitter collection!).  I love the colour too, that's one thing I'm really lacking in my collection, corals.  I have near to none, and considering I'm so pale, you'd think I'd have a decent amount of them, wrong!  I'm impressed with the amount of product you get too, often with these squeezy tubes you tend not to get as much, but in these you get for £2.95 14ml.  I really like it, and honestly can't find anything bad to say about it :)  

Question - do you prefer the white background to my photo's or the coloured/patterned backgrounds?

My lip product collection

Hey guys!  Ok a couple of things about this post, it's my lip product collection (excluding lip balms), now, I haven't listed every item because there's too many too list.  Similarly I haven't swatched them all either :p  What I will be doing over the coming weeks is lots of posts on Top 5 (lipsticks, glosses, glitter glosses, reds, pinks etc etc) but I just wanted to start that series off by showing you the collection I'll be making my picks from :)  So without further ado here's the collection :)

There were a few I missed out which I found afterwards, but not many :) So over the coming weeks, be prepared to see lots of posts featuring these items :)  I'm also making a pledge to myself, a pledge to wear a lip product from this collection every day :)  Clearly judging by the size of the collection, I love lip products and need to make better use of them :)

You'll notice I've got quite a mix of products, from MUA to Chanel - when it comes to lip products, I'm not loyal anywhere, if it's good and I like it that's all that matters.  When it comes to skincare it's a little different, things need to be a little better, the ingredients need to be right etc - that doesn't necessarily mean it needs to be expensive, just good quality :)

I might do a Project Lip Pan - so using 5 lip products lots and not allowing myself to buy any more until they're gone :)  Food for thought :)

Pixi3 out

xXx

Collection Pure Gloss

Hey guys!  So, I have a new shiny lip-smackin' gloss for you today, whoop!  Yes that's right, I've had coffee today!  Before I go a bit crazy, here's the pics with a summary at the end :)

Collection Pure Gloss

My Thoughts

So, what's my thoughts I hear you ask?  Well ask my dears and you shall receive!  First impressions were good, one of the things I really like about it, is that it's not too sticky, that's something I really don't like in a gloss... no, not good.  But this, is great!  It smells nice (doesn't taste of the smell though, if you know what I mean?).  It gives a lovely pink glisteny shine on your lips and will need re-applying after about... 1 hour?  Which, lets be honest, isn't bad for a non-sticky lip gloss.  Also, I'm quite funny about these things, and I like it to look fresh on all the time, so I probably re-apply more than necessary :p

Either way, I really liked this, and I'd like to try some of the other lovely colours they've released like Candyfloss and Lollipop :)  I think this is a relaunch of their old product, but relaunched as Collection and not Collection 2000.  I'm really rubbish and I can't remember how much it was, and I can't find online how much it retails for... but I'd put money on it being less than £5 :)

Have you tried any of Collection's lip products before?  What did you think?

Pixi3 out
xXx

DuWop Venom Gloss

Hello everyone <3 So I thought I'd do a bit of a review on the DuWop Venom Gloss that I had in this months' Glossy Box - I felt compelled to share my thoughts with you!

Screenshot of the DuWop website (American site)

When I saw this product in my Glossy Box I was super excited, a really lovely coloured gloss (I love neutrals!) and a lovely helping of sparkle in it too. So I grabbed it from the box this morning and took it into work with me. Once we were a couple of hours into the morning and I'd had my regulation cup of Tea I decided to give it a go and see what it was like.

Much to my horror, yes, horror I found it to be horrible! It worked as a plumper, if as by definition I want my lips to feel like they're about to explode in a tingly mess over my face - a slight exaggeration, but they did tingle like crazy! The worst part was how thick and gloopy it was. I applied a normal amount, not very much, and I had to lines on the join of my lips where it gathered and in the corners of my mouth, not a good look! Then, when it started wearing off it became really really sticky, not a nice feeling.

I was really disappointed and definitely wouldn't pay for it. I'm sure there are loads of people out there who love it, and would love it who haven't tried it yet, but for what I like in a lip gloss, it wasn't for me. I prefer slightly thinner gloss's, not thin ones, but something like the Revlon Super Lustrious lip gloss - they're the perfect consistancy for me. I find the Maybelline colour sensational lip gloss's slightly too thin - there's no real staying power with them, and the Revlon is a nice balance.

All in all, a thumbs down :(

Pixi3 out

xXx